Beneath Cinema Chandeliers
by kathillards
Summary: At the movies and wanting to escape Mia threatening to zombify Mike, Jayden and Emily take a walk to discuss friends, flirting, and good-looking boys. Jayden's still not entirely sure how he ended up kissing her. - Oneshot - Samurai - Jayden/Emily -


**Disclaimer: Saban owns PR.**

**Spoilers for Episode 10 "Jayden's Challenge", takes place after the end of the episode.**

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><p>"Oh, come <em>on<em>, that movie looks great!"

"It's about a lawyer meeting a chef and falling in love. What's so great about that?"

"Well, it'll be sweet and romantic and funny – "

"Does it have zombies?"

"I can make _you_ a zombie in the theater, if you'd like."

Emily covers her mouth to hide her giggles as Mike and Mia face off with Kevin attempting to play the role of mediator. Jayden raises an eyebrow at her, more than a bit amused at the dilemma the team is facing, and offers her one of the popcorn bags he'd just bought for the team.

"Thanks," she smiles. "What do you want to watch?" she asks curiously as Mike's voice escalates and random moviegoers passing by start sending the group of them odd looks.

"Something we can get through _without_ Mike being turned into a zombie by Mia," Jayden says firmly, flashing her a grin and tossing Kevin a water bottle over Mike and Mia's heads. "Does Kevin look annoyed to you?" he asks thoughtfully, tilting his head and considering the expression on his blue teammate's face.

Emily blinks. "Maybe. A little. Yeah. Why?" Tossing a kernel of popcorn in her mouth, she sends him an intrigued look, wondering why he'd noticed something even she hadn't picked up. "He's probably just annoyed because Mike and Mia won't stop fighting."

"Which is odd in and of itself," Jayden remarks. "Mia's usually pretty quick to try and make others happy. I guess she really wants to see that romance movie. And as for Kevin…" He trails off, eyeing his friend curiously – Kevin's a friendly guy, they all know, and while he gets annoyed as much as anyone else, he usually has a good reason.

"Wait a minute," Emily pipes up, interrupting Jayden's thoughts with a giggle. "I think he's jealous," she proclaims, whirling to face him with a smile lighting up her face, keeping her voice quiet so as not to catch the attention of a still-arguing Mike and Mia and a still-mediating Kevin.

"Jealous?" Jayden blinks, surprised by her revelation. "Of what? Don't tell me _he_ wants to fight with one of them," he grins, teasing another giggle out of her and subsequently inciting butterflies in his stomach (but don't tell anyone that).

"No, no, don't be silly," Emily laughs. "I mean, I think he's jealous that Mike is getting all of Mia's attention – oh, don't look at me like that!" she laughs when he sends her a Ranger trademark _are-you-crazy?_ look. "It's perfectly reasonable!"

"How is that reasonable?" Jayden demands, holding back laughter at the absurdity of the situation. "They're fighting. He's trying to keep the peace. How does that make him jealous of Mike? It's not like Mia's giving him _good_ attention, anyway. And why would he want Mia's attention?"

Emily rolls her eyes, biting her lip to hide a smile. "You guys are so clueless, it's kind of hilarious," she remarks, fisting a handful of popcorn out of the bag. "I'm gonna get away from the noise for a bit, walk around. See if you can't figure out what I mean by then."

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Jayden says quickly, tossing the other popcorn bags and water bottles he'd been carrying on the nearest table and gesturing to Kevin to inform him that they're leaving. "I don't exactly want to be stuck here with Miss Zombie Maker and her pet zombie, either."

"Hey!" chorus Mike and Mia simultaneously, apparently having overheard his remark, and spinning to glare at him. Jayden grins guiltily and quickly hops off the platform with tables to join Emily near the concession booth where she's trying to hold back her own laughter.

"Try and decide on a movie before we're back, would you?" Jayden asks, waving at them and easily ignoring the twin glares aimed at him before leveling a grin at his yellow teammate. "So, where did you want to walk to?"

Emily shakes a blond curl out of her face and shrugs, a smile playing on her lips. "I don't know. Just around, I guess. Look at all the food we can't buy – "

"For fear of Mike eating too much and getting too fat to fight?" Jayden finishes, chuckling, and surprises a real laugh out of her.

"Don't be mean!" she chides, though she's clearly giggling. "He's in good shape. He exercises a ton – well, obviously, considering he trains every day. And he's nowhere near fat. Most of his body weight is muscle."

There's a moment of silence as they stand there, and Jayden raises an eyebrow at her. "Well. Good to know you've been paying attention to how he looks, then," he remarks wryly. "Maybe it was a mistake letting you bandage him up when he hurts himself."

Emily's blush disappears as quickly as it had arrived as she looks curiously at him, starting to walk. "Why? Surely it's not a bad thing to find your teammates good-looking? I mean, all three of you guys are, and don't tell me you haven't at least seen the way Kevin looks at Mia."

Jayden shoves his hands in his pockets as they wander around the movie theater aimlessly, clearing his throat. "You think I'm good-looking?" he asks her, unable to help his curiosity, but he mentally kicks himself when she sends him a look.

"Well," Emily draws out the word, clearly amused by his question. "Duh. I certainly don't think you're _ugly_, for heaven's sake. I know you're not that self-conscious, Jayden," she teases, nudging his shoulder with her own. "Of course you're good-looking."

The grin on his face appears involuntarily. "So I shouldn't be worried, then? I mean, I'm pretty sure Mia thinks Kevin is the most good-looking – don't act so surprised; I'm not as oblivious as he is – and the last thing my ego needs is you thinking the same of Mike."

"Yes, you and your poor, fragile ego," she teases. "Give me a break. If you're not as oblivious as you claim, then surely you've also noticed all the looks you get from different girls whenever we go out? Remember that one girl at the amusement park?"

"Oh, yeah, the one you were jealous of?" he retorts easily, smiling and taking care to actually dodge her smack. "What? You _were_."

"I was _not_!" she insists, a blush heating up her cheeks as he starts laughing.

"Sure you weren't," he teases, feeling butterflies spark to life inside him again when the blush on her face deepens. "C'mon, Em, we're friends, we live together, you can tell me when you're jealous over me talking to a girl."

"I wasn't jealous," Emily says defensively, but he can clearly see a smile playing on her lips that she tries to hide. "Why are you so interested, anyway?"

Jayden coughs. "No reason. Just…um – " He trails off, which might be a tad obvious, judging from the knowing look she's sending him. "I'm – I'm not interested! Not in…" His voice falters, because he'd been about to say _you_, but she looks at him, then, hazel eyes bright with something unidentifiable, and it occurs to him that saying he's not interested in her might be a bigger lie than _No, I don't have a secret_, so he tells her the truth, instead.

"Not in her, at any rate," he finishes softly, stopping in the empty hallway and turning to face her. In the light of the chandeliers, he doesn't think she's ever looked prettier than she does standing in front of him with that smile on her face that makes more and more butterflies appear inside him.

"Um," Emily breathes, brushing a fair curl out of her face, her hazel gaze catching and holding his own with an intensity that almost surprises him. "Jayden, I – _oh_."

Jayden hadn't really planned on kissing her, but she's smiling so sweetly at him, and he really can't resist her when she smiles. Before he knows it, his lips are on hers, and he can taste fresh lemonade in her kiss, and his hands are around her waist, pulling her closer until her body's pressed up against his, and she's _kissing him back_.

"I, uh – " he stammers intelligently when they pull apart for air. "We should probably get back to the others. I'm sure they're finished fighting. And mediating. And, um, that was – "

"Yeah," she agrees, combing a hand through her blond curls and looking almost as flustered as he felt. "Let's go."

Jayden clears his throat. "We don't have to tell the others about that – um – right?" he asks, hastily drawing his hands away from her waist and stuffing them back in his pockets.

Emily giggles, sending him an amused look that makes him blush. "Of course not, Jayden," she says cheerfully as they turn back around towards the tables where the rest of their team is gathered and look much happier than they had been.

"We finally decided on a movie!" Kevin tells them, a note of desperate gratitude in his voice, as soon as they're within earshot. "We're going to see that horror film, you know, that one about a camping trip and the haunted cabin."

Jayden raises an eyebrow. "How did you manage that?" he asks, swiveling to face Mike, who grins at him while Mia rolls her eyes.

"We spent so much time fighting, we couldn't get tickets to that romantic comedy now if we wanted to," explains Mike, sticking his tongue out at Mia in a very mature manner. "Say, where did you and Emily go while all this was going down?"

"Oh, um," Emily bites her lip, seeming much more interested in the carpet pattern than in looking at him for confirmation. "We were just walking around."

"Yeah, waiting for you guys to stop fighting and decide on a movie," Jayden adds decisively, hoping nobody notices how close he's standing to Emily or that every brush of her hand against his leg leads to his heartbeat tripling.

Kevin shrugs. "All right, then. Let's go buy some tickets!" Clapping his hands, he begins to lead the team to the ticket booth. Mia grabs Emily's hand and drags her with them, no doubt to list off a bunch of reasons why a romantic comedy would have been much better.

Mike lingers behind to send him a thoughtful look. "You know, this movie is a great opportunity to – oh, I don't know – get close to a girl," he says suggestively, clearly having trouble keeping his grin in control.

Jayden feels a blush warm his cheeks even brighter than before. "I, uh, don't know what you're talking about." But something tells him that Mike, at least, knows exactly what he's talking about.

"Oh, please," Mike snorts. "I have an older brother. I know that I-just-kissed-a-gorgeous-girl look. And you're wearing it right now. That lovestruck smile, the way you can't seem to take your eyes away from her – you're doing it right now, in fact."

Jayden gulps and hastily looks away from Emily. "I – well – she – it's not – I just – um – "

Mike chuckles. "Save it. Look, Emily's like my little sister. Actually, forget that, she _is_ my little sister. And I know you'd never hurt her on purpose, but on behalf of Kevin and Mia, too, I just wanted to remind you – don't mess with her."

Jayden coughs, dropping the act. "Wasn't planning on it. Promise. I just – she's really – "

"I know," Mike smirks, clapping him on the shoulder. "Next time you want to hide the fact that you kissed her, wipe away the lemonade lip gloss. Dead giveaway, dude."

Blushing profusely, Jayden wipes away the lip gloss still on his lips with the back of his hand. "Um, thanks."

Mike grins knowingly. "Off to that horror movie, then?" he asks, soundly awfully pleased with himself.

"Sure." Jayden takes a moment to watch Emily and Mia and Kevin walking ahead of them, and the way Kevin grins at Mia and she laughs at his jokes, and the way Emily turns around to flash him a smile, and the way his pulse rate picks up when she does. "Let's see if you can actually find and keep a date this time."

Mike's jaw drops, and Jayden laughs as he jogs ahead to catch up with the other three. "Hey! Take that back!"

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><p><strong>AN: Gosh, these two are really too adorable to be real! :D If you thought so, too, (or even if you didn't), please review and tell me what you thought of the fic, please! I hope you guys liked it!**

**Don't favorite without reviewing, please and thank you :)**


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